Fansided

Can the Cleveland Cavaliers turn their season around?

By James Simpson II

Jan 13, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) during the third quarter against the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center. Phoenix won 107-100. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 13, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) during the third quarter against the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center. Phoenix won 107-100. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports /
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Can the Cleveland Cavaliers overcome their slow start and turn things around?

Well, this hasn’t gone according to plan for the mighty, star-studded Cavaliers. During the off-season, the Cleveland Cavaliers quickly went from a dormant franchise into suddenly a lively franchise with the additions of All-Star Kevin Love and homegrown favorite LeBron James making his return back to Cleveland to join ankle-breaking point guard Kyrie Irving.

With other additions like new head coach David Blatt, veterans Shawn Marion, James Jones, and Mike Miller joining the squad, everything looked set to make a run at the 2015 NBA title. The city of Cleveland was revitalized and hope sprung eternal for suffering Cleveland sports fans. LeBron was back in town and he was going to be the Savior of Ohio.

Well, as my friend Lee Corso would say “Not So Fast My Friends.”

“Not So Fast My Friends” is right. Cleveland is far from winning a title and the track their on right now it looks like they might not even make it out of the first round of the playoffs in the woeful Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers are currently sitting with a 20-20 record (sixth in the East) and have lost 9 of their last 11 games and during a eight-game stretch when LeBron missed the eight games consecutive games they lost five in a row.

It’s obviously not been an easy transition for first-year head coach David Blatt. There have been rumblings that he and LeBron have not seen eye-to-eye and that  he has not been able to reach his players so far in the season. As we are getting close to All-Star break, he is still searching for a suitable lineup and a rotation that fits. Maybe he’s overwhelmed by this coaching situation and maybe he’s more of a European level coach to begin with. Who knows but if he can’t reach LeBron (the CEO of this whole thing) then he’s in trouble.

While the coaching thing hasn’t worked out, the biggest issue is the team defense and the chemistry of The Big Three. The Cavaliers defense is right now ranked 19th in opponents points per game, 24th in rebounding, 25th in defensive rating, and their interior defense is among the worst in the league. As we saw last week, the Cavaliers tried to address that issue by trading away two first round picks to Denver for center Timofey Mozgov. I don’t know if the 7-footer will clean up there defensive issue but you can see that the organization is at least making an attempt. I don’t think Cleveland has to become an elite defensive team to win a title or win the East but they have to at least be a competent one and be capable of making key stops at the end of games. Right now, they are not there.

Jan 15, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) reacts from the bench in the second half of the NBA game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 15, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) reacts from the bench in the second half of the NBA game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /

The biggest issue at the moment is the cohesion between the three stars. Many feel Kyrie Irving shoots too much. Some believe Kevin Love isn’t a winning player and he’s too much of a liability on the defensive side of the ball. Many believe LeBron has lost a step and some of his potent athletic ability at age 30 (which it does look that way somewhat). All in all, the success of the 2015 Cavaliers starts and ends with these three no matter what.

There have been games where the threesome has downright looked unguardable offensively and there have been games where it looks like there not on the same page at all. When everybody gets healthy, in order to turn this slow start around LeBron, Love, Kyrie, and Blatt are going to have to find some common ground with one another and form a tighter basketball chemistry offensively and defensively to get to the ultimate goal. The additions of Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith will also help in the long run.

The positive outlook for Cleveland is that there in the top-to-bottom mediocre Eastern Conference and going on a losing skid won’t derail their playoff chances and drop them in the standings like it would if they were in the brutal Western Conference. It’s January and the playoffs don’t start till April so they still have time to get it together and increase the hopes of Cleveland fans again. If this team is at full strength come playoff time, the only team I strongly feel can beat them in a seven-game series is Chicago – no matter what the Cavs are seeded.

It’s only a matter of time Cavs fans before your team starts looking like the team you envisioned it would be in the beginning of the season. Keep your head up. Time is on your side.

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